LAFF 2015: OPENING NIGHT WITH GRANDMA

Sage (Julia Garner) and Elle (Lily Tomlin) in Grandma.

Just for the Elle of it

By John Esther

For its 21st year, the Los Angeles Film Festival begins tonight with writer-director Paul Weitz's Grandma.

A considerable hit at this year's Sundance Film Festival, the 80-minute Grandma tells the story of Elle Reid (Lily Tomlin), a woman navigating her life after her longtime lover has passed away. Afraid to ever get close to another lover again, Elle cruelly, somewhat abruptly, ends her four-month relationship with Olivia (Judy Greer).

That same day, Elle's granddaughter, Sage (Julia Garner) shows up at Elle's doorsteps unannounced. Sage is pregnant and needs the money to terminate the pregnancy.

Having just paid off her credit cards, Elle is short on cash. Not to be defeated, Elle grabs Sage and together they go hunting for the money needed for Sage's doctor's appointment that very day. While finding $600 will be difficult, Sage and Elle know it is easier to ask friends -- old and new -- for the money than asking it from Sage's mom and Elle's daughter, Judy (Marica Gay Hayden).

Quick, sharp and superior to the similar Juno, Grandma runs with fresh humor, biting satire, a little craziness and feminist politics (now, on the other hand, that mysterious cab fare...). Considering the tropes of too many movies (and TV) about unwanted pregnancies, the fate of Sage and Grandma can prove to be a bit unnerving, but it does not disappoint in its conclusion.

Tomlin's name is already being thrown around as a year-end contender (about time!) for best performance, but I would also suggest keeping an eye on Sam Ellot's performance as Karl, a man who was deeply betrayed by Elle many years ago.


Grandma screens tonight at LAFF. For more information: Grandma.

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NEWPORT BEACH 2012: CAROL CHANNING

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Carol Channing in Carol Channing: Larger than Life.

Gentlemen prefer talent

By Ed Rampell

Watching Dori Berinstein’s delightful documentary Carol Channing: Larger Than Life is a sheer joy. The now 91-year-old performer who embodied Broadway with her original onstage incarnations of Lorelei Lee in Gentleman Prefer Blondes and the eponymous matchmaker in Hello Dolly! is a force of nature.

This nonfiction biopic traces Channing from her 1921 birth into a Christian Science family in Seattle and upbringing in San Francisco to her debut onstage, TV appearances from Steve Allen to Laugh In, and movie career. In addition to the ever hilarious Channing herself, the doc’s talking heads include Betty Garrett, Jerry Herman, Lily Tomlin, Bruce Vilanch, Tommy Tune, etc. Channing’s second husband, Harry Kullijian-- a childhood sweetheart who reappeared late in life -- co-stars. (However, the film sweeps under the carpet Channing’s disastrous long first marriage and how her career conflicted with motherhood.)

You don’t have to be a fan of Channing or of musical theater to be swept away by this feel good ode to the Great White Way’s eternal nightingale. Cinema wasn’t the medium that most favored the entertainer with those flying saucer eyes, lips as red as Dorothy’s ruby slippers and blonde tresses -- Marilyn Monroe and Barbra Streisand portrayed Lorelei and Dolly onscreen. But this doc finally makes Channing -- Oscar-nominated for 1967’s Thoroughly Modern Millie-- the movie star she deserves to be, too.      

  

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